The Philippines supports Kirsan Ilyumzhinov

The gap keep closing in for Ilyumzhinov. Just as many had expected, the move to fund the $1 million dollar Florencio Campomanes Memorial Tournaments in South East Asia works just fine in favor of current FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov's candidacy to remain at the office. The Philippines, together with Cambodia, South Korea, and lately, on the other side of the Pacific, Peru all throw their support for Ilyumzhinov.

Quite frankly, is Karpov playing down the role of the less influential chess federations in Asia and third/second country to his desire to take over FIDE? Is it going to be a battle of classes (European Chess) and the masses (Asia and South America etc) for the FIDE Presidential seat? I guess funding chess tournaments will works best than having political activist like Kasparov et al for self promotion. The battle tightens and getting more and more exciting.

Chessdom reports:

Cambodia, Chinese Taipei, South Korea, Peru and Philippines join the supporting nations for President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, making the total number 55. Previously two more major waves were announced (to 35 countries and to 50 nations), while the Continental President Jorge Vega announced in an interview that support for Ilyumzhinov will soon reach 100 countries from the 174 national federations members of FIDE.

The Philippines and region support comes as a logical response to the new tournament sponsorship programs arranged by FIDE. The support of Peru comes after a similar move, where OneFIDE team announced that "The first Latin American Cup will be organized in Peru in August. This new FIDE event will have a prize fund of a US $100,000!"